HARRISBURG -- As college students face mounting debt, state education officials yesterday proposed a new kind of higher-education institution that would offer a "low-cost, no frills" bachelor's degree.

The schools would have no sports teams, no extracurriculars, no glittering fitness center and no plum dorm rooms.

They instead would offer an accelerated, year-round program and be somewhat similar to a community college, but they would offer four-year degrees as opposed to two-year associate degrees.

The State Board of Education's Higher Education Council unveiled the proposal yesterday as part of a three-page "white paper" that also includes nine other ideas calling for more financial aid for students, additional and expanded community colleges, and more money for state-supported schools. The proposals will be forwarded to Gov. Ed Rendell and the House and Senate for consideration.

"This is really just an idea. What form it takes hasn't been decided," said Jim Buckheit, executive director of the State Board of Education.

The board also said it will work on removing costly and unnecessary state mandates from colleges and look to regulate on-campus marketing by credit card companies.

The report follows a months-long look by the board's Higher Education Council on college affordability. The council held public hearings around the state and heard from students about their struggles to pay for college and their desire for a lower-cost option.

"Somewhere, there should be a no-frills option. Let's see if there's a market for a Yugo or a Ford," State Board Chairman Joseph Torsella said.

Pennsylvania is the sixth most expensive state in the country to get a college education -- $532 over the national average, a report released by the state board in November showed.

Of 10 states in the study, students in Pennsylvania graduated with the second-highest debt on average -- $19,047. Only in New Jersey was the average debt higher, at $19,294.

The issue also has attracted the attention of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, which plans to release a report today citing the state's peril of an underprepared workforce that can't afford a college education.

The board's focus on affordability comes in part because of the worsening economy that also has caused the state this year to pull back funding to the 14 state-owned universities, including Slippery Rock, Clarion, California, Edinboro and Indiana in Western Pennsylvania, and the four state-related schools, the University of Pittsburgh and Temple, Penn State and Lincoln universities.

Whether Mr. Rendell will increase funding for higher education in his upcoming budget address, to be given the first week of February, is unknown.

"The affordability of higher education is certainly a concern for the governor. He is constrained by the fiscal reality in which he finds the Commonwealth," said Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo. "But having said that, he will certainly take a look at the report and try to determine what response, if any, is merited."

Both the minority and majority chairs of the House and Senate education committee serve on the state board and participated in yesterday's discussion, Mr. Buckheit noted.

Kenn Marshall, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, which oversees the 14 state-owned schools, said the report from the state was misleading.

The 14 state-system schools have had the lowest cost increases of any state system in the country over the last five years, he said, citing a study out of Washington state. Over a five-year period concluding in 2007-08, costs went up 21.8 percent, much lower than the national average of 47.8 percent, he said. Tuition, fees, room and board and textbook costs total about $13,500 annually.

"We certainly believe we are doing everything we can, given our resources, to keep the cost of education as low as possible," Mr. Marshall said.

But debt continues to plague students at all kinds of colleges, a survey released yesterday by the state board showed.

Nearly three-fourths of students said they felt "overly burdened" by their student debt. Nearly two-thirds of graduates said the same. But few -- only 5 percent -- reported defaulting on their loans.

Current students reported that they had borrowed on average $22,807, while graduates said they had taken out $33,833. More than 20 percent used credit cards as a form of borrowing. Families of current students borrowed $19,485 on average, while families of graduates took out $33,788.

About 5,100 college students and 1,600 graduates were surveyed. Nearly half were at the 14 state-owned universities, 29 percent at one of three state-related institutions -- Pitt, Temple and Penn State -- 16 percent at community colleges, and the rest at private universities and other schools.